


take her home

by enjolrolo



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Car Accidents, F/F, Falling In Love, Hurt/Comfort, Kissing, Modern Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-27
Updated: 2016-12-27
Packaged: 2018-09-12 13:22:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9073765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enjolrolo/pseuds/enjolrolo
Summary: Cosette and Éponine have been friends for a while when Éponine texts Cosette in the middle of the night with an emergency.





	

It had been quite the day for Cosette. Her kitchen sink had decided to spring a new leak. All three of her dance classes had been much more rowdy than normal (they were all groups of eight- and nine-year-olds, yes, but they usually knew how to be quiet while others were crossing the floor). Trying to convince Marius to go out on a friend date with her and Courfeyrac hadn’t been easy, either, and Marius had cancelled at the last minute to stay home with his cat. Her legs, arms, and well, everything, were exhausted.

Just as she felt she was relaxed enough to doze off, her phone beeped violently on the stand next to her bed, and she jumped in surprise at the noise.

She had sleep problems without distraction, which meant that it was going to take her even longer now. She groaned and rolled over to check her phone. If she was going to be awake anyway, she might as well be productive.

The screen was lit up with a text from Éponine. "could u pick me up?"

It was two in the morning, and no good circumstances ran through Cosette's head as she sat up and tossed her blankets aside. She typed back a "Yes, where are you?" as she stumbled sleepily to her closet to find a coat. It was pouring raining outside, and completely frigid, but if Éponine was asking for help, it was no small matter. They’d been tentative friends for about six months now, and it still took a whole lot to make Éponine reach out.

Éponine responded almost immediately with a relative location that was about ten minutes away, so Cosette figured she could make it in five. Breaking major speeding laws was nothing new to her, especially when a friend needed something (Grantaire never stopped talking about the time Cosette dropped everything and got pulled over for speeding in an attempt to get to his art show on time).

When Cosette made it outside, she locked her apartment door and yanked her hood up over her hair. Her car was parked a block down, and she made the trek with hands shoved in her pockets, rain pelting her face, and her stomach clenched with anticipation.

The car ride itself was uneventful, but Cosette spent it gripping the steering wheel so hard her hands ached. The radio was stuck on a station of pure static, but she didn’t change it. What if Éponine was in serious trouble? What if she was hurt? It wasn’t normal for Éponine to be out this late, especially considering that she didn’t have a car.

When she turned onto the street Éponine had mentioned and saw police lights, Cosette felt like she was going to vomit, and had to pull over to make sure she didn’t swerve out of her lane. This was too similar to when Papa had called her after Javert had--

She cut that thought off as quickly as she could. Éponine had texted her, not called, so she must be okay. Everything had to be okay, or Cosette was going to _make_ everything be okay.

Cosette jumped out of her car and slammed the door, hurrying towards where a cluster of police cars were blocking the road. As she got closer, she saw a black car tipped on its side against a fire hydrant, a crumpled and twisted bike on the ground that looked familiar, and then finally, Éponine arguing with some police officers. Cosette ran over before Éponine could get herself in serious trouble.

"Éponine!" Cosette called out as she approached, and as soon as she could reach her, she crushed the girl in a hug. "What happened?"

Éponine only halfheartedly returned the embrace, and when Cosette pulled back, she saw that the former was still glaring at one of the cops. Her old sweatshirt was soaked through, and she looked like she was freezing, but she was a beautiful epitome of fury. "Some moron was driving drunk and hit me on my bike, and they’re getting mad at _me_."

“She also biking in dark clothing at two in the morning, so I don’t know what outcome she was expecting,” the oldest-looking police officer pointed out. “After getting knocked off her bike, she got up and proceeded to punch the driver in the mouth.”

“He hit me with his car, asshole!” Éponine snarled, her hands clenched into fists.

“That’s still--”

"Can I take her home, officer?" Cosette interrupted as politely as possible, given the fact that rain was stinging her face and hands and the cops were blaming _Éponine_ for getting hit by a drunk driver. She knew that Éponine hated cops, and Éponine had many reasons to feel that way, but they weren't going to get home anytime soon by being hostile.

The police officer she was looking at was young, so when he hesitated, Cosette only thought about it for a minute before schooling her expression into the sweetest one she could manage. "Please? It's very late, and we have class tomorrow. I'm sure you're tired too."

“We should take her in and get her information in case the driver wants to press assault charges,” the older officer butted in.

Éponine had taken Cosette's hand tightly, and was clearly not about to let go. Cosette could sense that Éponine was trusting her to get her out of this without Éponine getting arrested, so Cosette took a deep breath. “Considering that she was struck hard enough to be thrown from her bike, punching the guy who caused her injury shouldn’t be considered an assault of any kind, more of a self-defense.”

The older officer sighed. "That's fine. Can I get a number to contact you if we need to do so?"

Cosette wasn't sure if he just wanted her number or professionally needed it, she’d never heard of a police officer taking someone’s private number for a car accident, so she gave him her father's number just in case the guy turned out to be a creep. "Thank you," she said, then turned and led Éponine away.

Éponine was trembling slightly, which was understandable, considering she'd been standing in the rain in just a ratty sweatshirt and jeans. "My bike," she mumbled, and Cosette made a slight detour to carry the mangled mess to her car.

The handlebars were bent severely, and one of the wheels was curved in on itself the wrong way. It was easy to see where the bike had been struck, and Cosette tried to keep her eyes away from the spot where Éponine had obviously first struck the pavement.

“We’re not gonna be able to fix it,” Cosette said.

“Can you grab it anyway?” No one could say no to someone who sounded as defeated as Éponine did. Cosette released Éponine’s hand reluctantly in order to pick up the bike, before half-dragging it to her car (her first time holding Éponine’s hand, and it was because of a stupid bike accident. Cosette loved her luck).

On the ride home, Cosette kept glancing at Éponine, trying to gauge what care she needed. Éponine stared stonily down at her scraped knees and gave no clues, though she continued to shiver in her soaked clothes.

Once they had gotten inside, Cosette kicked off her boots and hung up her coat on its peg. "Okay, um. Take off your wet clothes right away, I'll grab something for you to wear. Do you want to shower?"

Éponine nodded, and disappeared into Cosette's bathroom. A few moments later, Cosette heard the shower turn on.

Upon further inspection, Cosette found that she had very little clothing that would actually fit Éponine, who was several inches taller than her and much thinner, but she managed to find some sweats and a T-shirt that could work. When the shower turned off, Cosette reached into the bathroom to set the dry clothes on the counter, determinedly facing the opposite direction.

It was only five minutes or so before the bathroom door opened and Éponine emerged, wearing only the sweats and a dark purple bra, the offered shirt was balled up in her hand. Her long hair was wrestled into a bun, and there was a lot of skin exposed that Cosette was trying really hard not to focus on. "Thanks," Éponine said, and stifled a yawn.

Cosette nodded, her face feeling a little red as she pointedly did not check out the cute girl standing in front of her. "Are you okay?"

"Could I have an ice pack? For my shoulder." Éponine's voice was soft, and lacked its usual edge of belligerence. Cosette jogged to the freezer to get what had been requested without protest.

Cosette wrapped the ice pack in a towel and, deciding that Éponine was much too worn out to look after herself, motioned for Éponine to sit on the couch. She climbed up onto the back of the couch behind her and lightly held the ice pack to her shoulder, which was already dark with a deep bruise, and tried not to freak out. (Was she supposed to apply pressure or not? Éponine was so cute she was going to die if she even touched her shoulder. Should she call Joly? Could there be a broken bone or something? Cosette was not medically inclined in the slightest.) To cover for her inner meltdown, she asked calmly, "Can I know why you were biking in the rain at two in the morning?"

Éponine didn’t answer right away, but then said, "It was Azelma's birthday yesterday, and I took her flowers."

An image popped into Cosette's mind, of Éponine waiting for her roommates to fall asleep to bike across the entire city to her sister's grave, only to get hit by a car on the way back and have to call for help. "I'm so sorry," was all Cosette could think of to say.

"It's not your fault," Éponine answered, completely missing the point. "I'm not sad about her anymore, anyway." She took a breath, then changed the subject, like something had all of a sudden occurred to her. “You’re not mad about this, right?”

“Why would I be mad about this?”

Éponine shifted her weight around, clearly uncomfortable. “I made you come pick me up in the middle of the night for the dumbest reason, and you might be annoyed?”

Cosette took the ice pack off of Éponine’s shoulder, because with Éponine moving around there was definitely more of a risk that Cosette was accidentally going to make skin-to-skin contact and it was too late at night for Cosette to deal with any of that. “You’ve gotta be kidding me, you got hit by a _car._ I’m not mad at all. I’m just glad you’re safe.”

“Oh.” Éponine’s voice was quiet, and then she turned herself partway around to properly look at Cosette, who was still perched somewhat precariously up on the back of the couch. “Thanks.”

“Of course. It's literally no problem.”

One of Éponine’s eyebrows lifted, just a little. “Really?”

Cosette nodded, feeling her face get warm. “I mean, that's what friends are for. I care about you a lot."

“Are you joking?” The plain uncertainty in Éponine’s voice was what made Cosette stop rambling and realize what she was saying. Éponine’s eyes were wide and shiny looking back at her. “Don’t say this just to make me feel better.”

“I’m not!” Cosette impulsively reached forward to take Éponine’s hands, a desperate attempt to keep Éponine from crying. It was truly an indication of how far they’d come when Éponine didn’t flinch away. “I really genuinely like you.”

“I like you, too,” Éponine said, relaxing like a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

That didn't answer every question, though. It was _Cosette_ who Éponine had thought of first, not Grantaire or Feuilly or Floréal. That had to be a sign of something, right? Cosette breathed in, and took the leap.

"Just as friends?" 

Éponine looked at her sharply, surprise coloring her face. There was a long, stretched-out pause, and Cosette was so close to backtracking when--

“Can I kiss you?” Éponine asked.

“I don’t know, _can_ you?” Cosette shot back, relief crashing over her, and then Éponine leaned up on her knees to be at Cosette’s level, and closed the distance between them. One of her hands reached up to the back of Cosette’s neck to steady her, and Cosette wrapped one of her legs around Éponine's waist to pull her in closer.

When they parted for air, Cosette felt so dizzy she could hardly do anything but grin at her, and her face was definitely the reddest it had ever been. If Éponine did that again, Cosette was probably going to either die or fall off the back edge of the couch. “That was--uh.”

“That good?” Éponine asked, a slight smile on her face that was _really cute_. She took hold of Cosette’s arm and pulled her forward until Cosette gave in and got down off the back of the couch and straddled Éponine’s lap. Éponine's skin was warm and still a little damp from the shower, and Cosette swore she could feel her heart beating too fast. It would be so easy to pull her in again, but something still needed to be asked.

Cosette found her words, and as hard as it was, she hesitated before moving any further. "Are you sure you're...in the right mindset for this?"

Éponine ran one hand up and down Cosette's side, lightly enough to make Cosette shiver. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, are you going to regret this later?" Cosette knew that she wasn't going to make the best argument from her position on Éponine's lap, but she  _also_ knew that Éponine had a habit of doing all sorts of shit when she was having a rough night. She didn't want to be a coping mechanism. "Or are you really down for this? We're moving pretty fast."

That seemed to give Éponine something to think about, but after a moment, Éponine nodded. "Thanks for asking. Um. I think it's fine. Is it too fast for you?"

" _Definitely_ not." Cosette finally let her hands come to rest on Éponine's bare waist, and Éponine's smile crept back onto her face. "Let me know if it's too much, though. I know it's been a rough day."

"You got it." Éponine's hand slipped under the hem of Cosette's t-shirt, her fingers cold against Cosette's skin, and Cosette jumped a little. 

"Holy shit," Cosette gasped, and reached around herself to cover Éponine's hand with one of her own. "You're  _so col_ _d_."

"I can think of a few ways for you to warm me up," Éponine suggested, and Cosette laughed, knowing that Éponine had probably been waiting to use that line for a while.

Cosette put a hand on Éponine's shoulder and pushed, and Éponine was all too happy to fall back onto the couch with Cosette on top of her. 

 

It was the light streaming in through the window that woke Cosette up the next morning, and she shifted her head to the side, feeling something warm against her face. Her eyes shot open to find that her head was on Éponine’s chest. Éponine was still dead to the world, her chest rising and falling slowly, which gave Cosette time to recover from her small freakout.

Éponine liked her back, and Éponine had kissed her. It all seemed a little surreal, and Cosette shut her eyes again, a wide smile on her face.

Then, it occurred to her that Éponine had just been hit by a car, and would definitely need medical attention, just to be safe, and maybe Cosette shouldn’t have made out with her instead of finding medical help? Cosette didn’t want to move, but she carefully sat up, removed her hand from Éponine’s waist, and reached for her phone, which was on the coffee table, almost out of reach.

She sent a quick text to Joly, asking if he could make sure Éponine didn’t have any broken ribs or anything. It was around ten, so he would probably already be at work.

He answered characteristically, less than a minute later. Unfortunately, Cosette had never silenced her phone, so it gave a few semi-loud beeps that startled Éponine awake.

“Sorry,” Cosette said.

Éponine shut her eyes again and grumbled, “You should be.”

Cosette caught herself staring at a particularly dark hickey on Éponine's chest,  tore her gaze away, back to her phone. Joly had sent a series of sun emojis, and then ‘wake me up (wake me up inside)’ and ‘please do’. Cosette nudged Éponine until she opened her eyes again. “We’re going to Joly’s office.”

More texts arrived from Joly. ‘What happened????’ ‘Is she bleeding???????’

Éponine shook her head and burrowed her face into Cosette’s side. “I’m fine.”

“It’s just to make sure.”

“I can’t afford it.”

“I can.”

Éponine glared up at her, though she looked much too sleepy to pull it off, and she grimaced as she sat up, which confirmed Cosette’s suspicions that something was wrong. “I’ll go if we can get breakfast on the way.”

“That would be so cute of us,” Cosette agreed cheerfully, though it took the both of them another few minutes to find the willpower to get up, and then a few more to find where Cosette’s shirt had gone. Cosette would have loved to stay on the couch with Éponine all day, but they could cuddle later, when it was certain that Éponine didn’t have a broken rib.

Half an hour later, the two of them were walking side-by-side towards the cafe on the corner, and Éponine cleared her throat twice before finally saying, “About…last night.”

Cosette’s heart sank as she looked over at Éponine, mind automatically jumping to the worst conclusions. Éponine was way out of Cosette’s league, anyway. “I understand if you weren’t thinking straight and you don’t want to me to tell anyone--”

“Cosette, I haven’t thought anything straight since I was fifteen years old,” Éponine said matter-of-factly, and then hesitantly took Cosette’s hand. “Could you not tell anyone besides Joly about the whole me visiting my sister’s grave thing?”

“Oh,” Cosette said. “Right.”

“And speaking of not being straight, I’d sort of like to date your ass.”

“Just my ass?” Cosette asked.

Éponine snorted. “The rest of you too, obviously, even though your ass is pretty nice.”

“You know it.” Cosette went up on tiptoe to kiss Éponine’s cheek.

    


End file.
